Flying, Frozen and Furry

It was another busy week at school. Some portions happened like clockwork - our annual Volunteer Appreciation event and the TDSB TL Social. Others were unique to this year, so I will focus on those memories to analyze, in reverse order from the title of this post.

Furry, Four-Legged Friends: Our Pet Club Celebration with Biscuit

One of the clubs I ran this year was Pet Club. I started it based on a suggestion from a student, who wanted time to interact with our school skinny pigs. The students, chosen from applicants in Grades 3-5, had to check in daily on the pets to ensure they had food and water. They were also responsible for letting me know when the cage was dirty so that we could clean it. Technically, I did all the cleaning and they "babysat" the skinny pigs. The problem with Pet Club is that students were, to use a Caribbean figure of speech, either "8 or 80". They either completely forgot about checking on them, leaving them without basic necessities, or over-attentive, checking on them at every recess and free period (and even during lessons too). We had schedules set up and posted all over the library, as well as copies sent home with the participating students. I included a list of the things to do as part of Pet Club. Unfortunately, some students still had difficulty keeping up with the demands and they had to be demitted from Pet Club. To recognize and acknowledge the students that persevered with their duties, we hosted a dog visit with Biscuit, a canine who lives with the Miller family in the neighbourhood.

Mr. Miller was absolutely fabulous. He is a member of our school's Parent Council and an active volunteer. He also knows how to speak to students. It may be due to the nature of his daytime job, or because he has four children in his home, but for whatever the reasons, he was an excellent ambassador. The goal was for the students to know how to interact safely and respectfully with dogs they may encounter in the community. We talked inside the library and then went outside.

The students were fascinated by Biscuit and interested in everything Mr. Miller taught them. He explained about the need to ask owners for permission before petting dogs in public. He demonstrated how to approach from the side and let the dog get comfortable first. He had students empathize with dogs to help them understand why they might react in the ways they do. By the time we went outside, a larger crowd gathered to check out what was going on. He showed how to keep your palm open and flat when offering treats so that the dog can accept the snack safely.

As Mr. Miller brought around Biscuit for the students to meet, we realized that many of our students were quite uncomfortable around dogs. Some, even though they were Pet Club enthusiasts, showed quite a bit of fear and were very skittish around Biscuit. Mr. Miller was very patient and reassuring. Some students chose not to get near the dog, and that choice was honoured and respected. Others were eager but nervous and they received lots of support and Mr. Miller had Biscuit sitting in a way that gave students the confidence to interact a bit more.

Afterwards, Mr. Miller expressed some regret that he wasn't able to mention all the things he wanted to cover during his talk. I was so appreciative of his time and effort with this presentation and told him that the students left with important information. Thank you, Brian Miller and Biscuit, for ending the Pet Club duties with a woof!

Frozen Treats: Our ESL Ice Cream Inquiry

One scoop or two? Do you prefer chocolate or vanilla? Where is it kept? Oh no, it's melting!

Sharing ice cream with the Stage 1-2 ESL classes helped develop a lot of vocabulary. I had some leftover ice cream from the Quiz Bowl celebration last week. We researched different types of ice cream, which helped reading comprehension. We also wrote down some of these flavors. The class pre-set goals (write down 10 flavors) and when we achieved them, we trooped to the office where we have a freezer tucked away in the back.

As I've mentioned before, food is highly motivating. The students really enjoyed talking about ice cream and especially eating the ice cream!

Flying Up and Away: More Green Screen Magic in the Library

As part of my big library renovation and refresh, the school purchased a large green screen. I decided to try it out with the Kindergarten students as part of my library/media lessons with them, although I had a secondary reason. Their kindergarten graduation is coming up, and sometimes it can be hard to find photos of individual children doing school things. With the yearbook, I tend to prioritize taking group pictures. When preparing the Grade 8 and kindergarten graduate slide shows, we have to be so careful about only including images of the students in question, since we don't have permission to show the others. By taking these whimsical green screen photos, we can use them for their SK graduation and maybe eight years in the future for their Grade 8 graduation!

It's important to teach THROUGH and ABOUT media, so part of this lesson involved showing how the technology worked. I used the Do Ink Green Screen app and showed them how this particular shade of green is substituted in the app with whatever image I select. I also relied on the "problem solving and innovation" aspect of the kindergarten curriculum to get the students to figure out how we could make it appear as if they were flying. They quickly discovered that using one of the big block seats, covered with fabric in the same shade of bright green, would hide the support. 

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Students even had the chance to take photos themselves using Do Ink. 

Here I am showing them how we can look like we are flying.

We also had good conversations afterwards about whether or not they were really flying and they were able to say they weren't because it was just pretend, thanks to the green screen.  

This coming week will be filled with graduation and retirement celebrations. Hopefully there will be some time for teaching in between!

P.S. Sunday, June 15, 2025 was also Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to my own Popperino, Fred DeFreitas, and my husband (and a fantastic father himself), James Maliszewski! I probably should have called this post "Flying, Frozen, Furry, and Fatherly"!